MICHAEL Ingham is expected to retain his place in goal for tomorrow’s FA Trophy trip to Northwich.

The York City ’keeper made way for teenage stopper Josh Mimms during the second half of Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at Histon after suffering a hamstring injury.

But the former Northern Ireland international has responded well to treatment and should start the first round tie.

City boss Martin Foyle said: “Michael is fine and should be okay. He had a bit of a spasm in his hamstring and it was the right decision for him to come off and avoid further damage.”

The Minstermen will be without on-loan winger Adam Smith, however, for the Marston’s Arena clash, as he has already played for Gainsborough Trinity in the competition.

Foyle admitted that fielding a different starting line-up for all four of his first games in charge has been frustrating.

In fact, the KitKat Crescent club have only named an unchanged side on two occasions this term, with the same teams facing Crawley and Wrexham at the start of the campaign and Woking and Rushden in October.

All four games ended in City victories and Foyle is hoping for more selection consistency in coming weeks.

He said: “Adam Smith is cup-tied, which is a bit of a disappointment because one of the things I’ve noticed is the team hasn’t been the same week in, week out.”

Simon Russell and Liam Shepherd have both shrugged off minor problems to contend for a starting place in the absence of Smith, but Niall Henderson has joined fellow hamstring injury victim Bruce Dyer in the treatment room.

The City chief added: “The training pitch is a bit tacky and we seem to be picking up one or two hamstring injuries.”

With two draws from his first two away games as manager, Foyle also believes the Minstermen are currently more comfortable on the road, but refutes suggestions his side will be overwhelming favourites at the Blue Square Premier’s bottom outfit.

He said: “We are down there as well so it’s not like it will be top versus bottom. Any team can beat anybody in this league as Eastbourne showed when they turned Torquay over.

“It’s a tricky tie going to Northwich but a good one and, at the moment, we seem a bit more confident away from home.”

City’s reserve game at home to Rotherham, abandoned at half-time on Wednesday night, will now be played on Tuesday, March 31.

Foyle was disappointed with the referee’s decision to call that match off and deprive him of a chance to run the rule over his squad’s fringe players.

He said: “I’ll never know why the game was called off. There was a bit of frost in the corners but we’ve played on ten times worse than that. “I wanted to see the players over 90 minutes, not 45, because a lot of the fringe players aren’t fit enough.”

Ipsoregulated

This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here